History, doctrine, culture, books

Defiant Episcopalians

[Update: The law blog Concurring Opinions just posted a short commentary on several Protestant conventions (including the Episcopalian one I've been commenting on) noting that the liberal winds of change seem seem to be blowing in several denominations.]

Get Religion posted a fine summary of recent developments in the Episcopal Church and the larger Anglican Communion. It does a much better job than my earlier post in stating the two disputed issues that now threaten to split the Communion: (1) the election of female Bishops and now an Archbishop (roughly equivalent to an LDS General Authority), which is a problem because some conservatives will now be forced to decide whether to accept priests ordained at the hands of a female Bishop or reject them; (2) the denial or extension of the church rite of marriage to same-sex couples.

In the LDS Church, (1) is not remotely an issue at present and (2) isn't really on the table either. The LDS issue is simply whether the Church will give any recognition at all to state-sponsored same-sex unions, whether "marriage" or simply "civil union", if its efforts to stop such developments via the political process fails. Performing LDS rites of marriage for same-sex couples is not even being discussed. And there's nothing like a split threatening the LDS Church on the issue: while more than the usual number of Mormons seem unhappy about the Church's recent blunt statements of position (and call to arms) on this mixed moral/political issue, they are still a small minority. But seeing the Anglican Communion lose its grip on organizational integrity is a sobering event. Business corporations can go financially bankrupt -- do religious corporations go morally bankrupt? Or do they simply lose that core sense of identity necessary to retain denominational unity?

In American religious history, there have only been two big splits. First, the issue of slavery and abolitionism split denominations into northern and southern wings. The Southern Baptists, for example, became "Southern" Baptists during this period. The second came in the wake of evolution and higher criticism of the Bible in the first years of the 20th century, with conservative "fundamentalist" wings of denominations rejecting those concepts and and "liberal" leaders accommodating the same concepts (if not exactly embracing them). Will gay marriage be the moving issue in a third period of schism? It certainly carries a lot of emotion with it.

It's worth noting that the LDS Church avoided both of those earlier splits as well. The Utah Church, by relocating to Utah, avoided much of the abolitionist tension and, of course, the Civil War. And the Church agenda at the close of the 19th and start of the 20th century was occupied entirely with ending polygamy and obtaining statehood. The LDS Church wasn't forced to come to grips with evolution and higher criticism until ... well, I'm not sure it ever has. Bruce R. McConkie, the most visible icon of mainstream LDS doctrine, thought evolution was a form of apostasy and conducted his scriptural studies with no facility with the original languages. An LDS leader can reject evolution and practice hyper-literalism and get along just fine in the LDS Church. And if you disagree, watch out, God might just turn you into a pillar of salt.

I'm not sure there's a neat conclusion to this line of thinking. I suppose it's worth noting how lucky Mormons are that the LDS Church has never really faced a schism -- the dispute over the succession to Joseph Smith was the closest we came, but most followed Brigham despite him choosing to move the Church to Utah. And I suppose we might speculate that if the issue of gay marriage has the power to split the Anglican Communion, it may do the same to other denominations and will continue to trouble LDS thinking and public posturing. The election of 2008 may be fought on this turf. That and Iraq (assuming we're not lobbing missles back and forth with North Korea at that point).

Comments

You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

I enjoyed that! I want to ask if you've thought about comparing the LDS response to the Catholic response. We're both much more centralized than the Protestants.

Although I don't know much about the gender issues, I do know some of the history of the adoption of H-C work. The Catholics had an advantage in that they shifted later and did so more smoothly. Hence, there are fewer fundamentalist Catholics. Both the delay and the relative smoothness of the transition are due, in part, to centralization.

Thanks, Mogget. In general, the Catholic response was to reject all higher criticism from the mid-19th century through the mid-20th, at which point the Pope did an about face and Catholic scholarship quickly blossomed in that area. What I know I picked up from Bokenkotter's book (on the sidebar) and Kung's The Catholic Church: A Short History (which for some reason I didn't put up). I hope to do a few posts on Catholic topics next month.

I appreciated your comparison between corporate financial bankruptcy and church spiritual bankruptcy. This makes for a good analogy. As long as the LDS Church doesn't go spiritually bankrupt, it's probably OK.

On the schism thing, I think you may be underestimating the post-martyrdom crisis. I also note that we are still dealing with the schism that occurred in the aftermath of the discontinuation of polygamy. Perhaps I am not objective on these issues, as both have affected me personally.

Some of my ancestors joined the Church in the U.K. and came to Nauvoo. They stayed in Nauvoo after Br. Brigham went west with the bulk of the saints. They eventually linked up with the RLDS Church. My great aunt converted to the LDS Church and sent missionaries to my grandmother. Grandma sought to prove them wrong, but ended up joining the LDS Church as well. However, I have many relatives (descendants of my ancestors) that are missing out on the blessings of the gospel today because of the Nauvoo-era schism.

As for polygamy, I have relatives that are members of one of the splinter polygamist groups that formed after the Church ended the practice.

But note that both of these schisms were precipitated by extremely major events in the church. The former by the death of the founder and subsequent confusion. The latter by a major shift in church policy. I don't know that the gay marriage issue can offer anything along these lines to cause division.

I would say there will not be a schism in the LDS Church over this issue. It is too centeralized and dominated by at least the idea of Revelation of Authority. The only ones I have seen effected by the Church's position on homosexuality are the liberals who have made lots of noise, but pose no real threat to the organization. The LDS Church might lose numbers of attendants, but I have never heard any liberals talk about splits or creating their own Mormon Church.

As with the other two times when there has been splits, it is when there has been a major change at the top. The only way that would happen is if liberals "take over" positions of authority. They don't seem to have been succesful at, or even tried, doing that.

I would have to argue that that schism regarding the Episcopal (US) church, and the Anglican church as a whole (which has lots of other churches underneath the umbrella of Anglicanism) is mostly a matter of patience.
Personally, I think that it is right that a woman be able to be a bishop, straight of gay. But, for the greater good of the Anglican Communion, what Rowan, Archbishop of Canterbury (pretend GBH was a really brilliant liberal) The "Church" has asked the Episcopalians to wait until there has been a compromise/agreement within the entire communion. They have general meetings every few years...and vote on doctrine and things of that nature.
So, in my measly opinion, I think the Episcopal church should have waited...for the good of the entire Communion...until everyone sitting around the table has a chance to pray, talk, and vote about it.
Unlike the Prophet the Archbishop doesn't have the final say on anything really...his role is more of referee...and thinker.
I think the LDS church could stand to learn something from this aside from the whole gay marriage debate.
I think we could stand to see how important every single persons viewpoint is...and if you don't take everyone into account...well, that's neither Christian nor democratic. Also, the LDS church is quite new compared to the Anglican or Catholic churches...there hasn't been too much time to have such a rift!

The difference is in the LDS Church the prophet, or at lest the presiding quorum, are the representatives of how God feels on the subject - that is the nature of their prophetic mantle. And to first order approximation, how God feels decides the question conclusively.

Now there is no doubt more to the story than that, but I suspect the question was decided in the councils in heaven ages ago - i.e. in the LDS Church, legislative conciliarism largely occurs in heavenly councils, and earthly councils focus on rather more mundane implementational issues.

I don't know how the Episcopalians feel about the authority of the scriptures - to most Protestants the issue would be closed on that basis alone.

Don't you think that perhaps the American Episcopalians' connection to the political left (with it's inherent tendency toward trendiness, and open-mindedness to a fault) made them a little more susceptible to a schism of this kind than a more conservative bunch like the LDS mainstream would be?

I don't think conservative or liberal thinking has a direct connection to the tendency to divide organizationally. You could argue that Anglicans, with their latitudinarian approach to church life (a liberal attribute), their "big umbrella" approach, would be least susceptible to schism.

Mark, I agree that too much latitudinarianism can lead to a watered-down sense of identification, but that's not what's happening here. These people do identify as Anglican or Episcopalian, they just disagree about what the proper statement of Anglican Communion belief and practice should be. In a sense, they are all acting anti-latitudinarian on this issue.

I don't know Dave. I have a sneaky suspicion that the Liberal committment to "tolerance" is really only skin deep.

Human beings have a natural conviction that there is a right way and a wrong way to go about things. That's going to come out eventually.

But taking a tolerant and accepting initial stance can often be the doctrinal equivalent of "sweeping the problems under the rug." Let's all be tolerant is a superficial fix.

Despite the rhetoric, human beings, on any position of the political spectrum, want truth. They'll put up with that which seems false, to a degree. But, in the end, they'll burst forth in even more damaging ways.

Better to be up-front that we just disagree with some people, and will not accept certain things than to pretend that differences don't exist or to claim that differences aren't important.

Hi,
I'm the son of an Episcopal minister. About twelve years ago I got completely fed up with the Anglican church pandering to gays. Gay and Christian at the same time is fundamentally hypocritical. I left the Episcopal church and eventually joined the LDS faith. I let my feet do the talking on this issue. I don't think I'm the first and suspect that I won't be the last. The Anglican church isn't spliting - it's dying... much to the lament of my father.

Thanks for the "insider's" view, Mark. I've been following the commentary at Father Jake's blog, and it really does appear the Episcopalians have driven a stake into the heart of the Anglican Communion. Anglicanism has traditionally been able to tolerate a wide variety of views within its circle of affiliated churches, so it's sad to see it end this way. The present difficulties show there is a limit to how much diverse opinion and practice can be brought under one roof.

Mormon Books 2013-14

Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of MormonismGivens and Grow's warts-and-all biography of this energetic missionary, author, and apostle whose LDS career spanned Joseph Smith's life, the emigration to Utah, and Brigham Young's early leadership of the Church in Utah. My Review